


The Fire That Destroys Us

by orphan_account



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Marvel Universe, Past Character Death, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 20:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14340324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Being struck by lighting is not on Amber Delaney's to-do list, but unfortunately, that's just what happens. Somehow, Nick Fury finds out about her and considering that the Avenger's team is slightly small, he recruits her.It's not all bad for her, until she discovers that Loki, the one person she has sworn to forever hate, is part of the Avengers and is on probation, and has been for a month. She hates Loki more than anything else, but as time moves on, she learns what hate can really do to a person.





	The Fire That Destroys Us

I stare at my reflection in the mirror for a moment, and then I look down at the floor. Being part of the Avengers is not an easy task, especially when you haven’t even finished school, aren’t officially an adult and have magnetism and electricity powers that you can’t even control. The past two weeks have been so hard and stressful I almost wish that the lightning had killed me. I was in a freak accident and I nearly died. The doctors in the hospital said that the second they removed their machinery from me, I’d go, but surprise, surprise; I didn’t. Shows a lot they know. I survived and gained weird powers. It scared the heck out of everyone one I know and ruined my life.  
Somehow Fury discovered me and took me to join the team. I nearly declined, but everyone around me was so afraid of me that the only place I’d even fit in the slightest was among the Avengers. But of course, I don’t fit in entirely. I’m years younger than everyone here.  
I think it was my mother who contacted him. She wanted me gone, I suppose, since I was dangerous. According to her, I already caused enough damage to the family before that, and she’s right.  
“Lady Amber, it is past time for us to spar. Are you in any need of assistance?” Thor’s voice asks. I sigh heavily and lean half of my weight on my hands.  
“No, Thor, I’m fine. I forgot about sparring. Just give me a second to change,” I say. I unglue myself from the mirror and quickly change into my sparring outfit. It’s not the most comfortable thing in the world, considering its skin tight, but it’s light and the tightness gives me better agility. “Okay, I’m done,” I call and head to the door. In a second, I step out the opening and join Thor in the hall.  
We walk to the sparring room in silence for the most part until Thor awkwardly clears his throat (we don’t interact much) and grabs my attention.  
“You do not have to feel alone among us. And I have lightning abilities as well. You don’t need to be isolated from us.” I realize that he is only trying to give me comfort and encouragement but me being the girl that I am, instead of thanking him, I decided to snap at him.  
“Well you didn’t get yours from a frickin’ near death accident. And unlike my ‘abilities’ yours actually make a lot of people like you. Mine just make the people I love hate me.” I shake my head and rush past him, not looking back. The other Avengers are already there when I arrive being followed by a very distraught Thor. I pay no attention to their looks and gather my equipment. I lift my head and suddenly scream and jump backwards, dropping my things in the process.  
“L-Loki!” I yelp in horrified surprise. I can’t believe who is standing in front of me. I didn’t see him when I walked in. My eyes must’ve passed right over him! But he’s standing right in front of me! I feel anger boil up inside of me, along with fear and remorse.  
“You say my name as if you know me.” He pretends to think for a second and smiles. “Yes, I remember you. We met under less than pleasant circumstances, if you remember.” I clench my teeth. Everything he just said mocks me.  
“Stop messing around, Reindeer Games. She’ll go all nutso on you, trust me. I know from experience.” At the mention of his nickname, Loki sends a dangerous glare towards Tony and he backs off. I try to calm myself, but I fail miserably. Instead I begin to grow aggressive.  
“What are you even doing here?” I ask as I head to the middle of the room to start stretching. “You should be dead.” I say that as plainly as I would say ‘good morning’ to someone. Thor winces visibly and I feel slightly guilty for saying that in front of him, but I am not guilty for saying it to Loki. The only reason I feel guilty at all is because Thor may be a big, rough, arrogant oaf, but he loves his brother like I never could if I had a brother like him. I’ve known that he was alive for a while and I’ve never liked it, but until this encounter I had no idea that he was on earth, much less living with the Avengers. Thor had talked about him before but never mentioned what his sentence was.  
“Why…” I try to find the right words and try to keep myself calm. “Why are they letting you…” Yes, I am talking to Loki. But of course, I can’t keep it up for more than a fraction of a sentence. “Why are you letting him live here? He-he-he… He’s a villain! He’s evil, destructive and…” I glance over at Loki and shudder. “And he’s looking at me weird!” Bruce chuckles slightly at the last part and looks over at Loki.  
“Get used to it. He’s a creepy guy to be around.” I clench my teeth and try to do breathing exercises. “He’s a lot more than that,” I say to myself, my voice almost breaking in my whisper.  
“Loki is here on a kind of probation,” Thor says while he looks at his brother. “Until he changes his ways, he will stay here on earth with me.”  
“Na-ah,” I say defiantly, shaking my head for extra effect. I begin to walk over to Loki, fire burning in my chest. “You…” It comes out as a deep growl through my clenched teeth. “You killed hundreds of people! You are a murderer! I don’t care what anyone else thinks! You are a monster! A horrible, unloving, monster!” Steve looks at me warningly.  
“Amber…”  
“You are just a horrible, no good, nobody! I can’t believe you ever thought you deserved to be king because you don’t! Thor’s told me you’re a Frost Giant and from what I know of them, you are exactly like them! You have a heart of ice and if I ever got the chance I would kill you in such a painful—”  
“Amber, that’s enough!” I suddenly snap out of my daze and realize that Steve is gripping my shoulders to hold to hold me back from Loki, who is only inches away from me. I have my fist up in the air, ready to punch. Loki backs off slightly, only looking a little bit startled. I take it all in and go over everything I said. My eyes begin to well up and I take deep breaths to calm myself.  
“You killed,” I say, my voice cracking, “my sister. I loved her more than anything in the world, and you took her away from me.” I can’t look at Loki anymore. I let Steve turn me around and take me away from him. He holds me close to himself in a comforting way until my tears subside.  
After a few minutes, I pull myself out of the Captain’s grasp, slightly embarrassed for causing a scene. “I’m sorry Thor, I don’t think I can spar with you today,” I apologize. “Maybe tomorrow?’ Thor nods understandingly.  
“Of course.” I nod back to him and begin to head out. As I do I hear Loki say, “I don’t think she likes me.” I clench my fists and quicken my pace to my room. I want to be as far away from him as possible.  
I slam my room door shut and pull out my journal from its secret hiding place. I write:  
I’ve been at this place for two weeks and it’s still going rough. Now I just discovered that Loki is living in the same building as I am. Every time I looked at him it brought back flashbacks of that day. Fiddlesticks. I want to reverse time.  
I sigh and place my journal back in its place. I don’t want to think about him anymore, but I can’t help it. He destroyed my family! His army killed my friends and he himself murdered my sister. She saw him face to face. I saw him face to face. I was there the whole time, and I didn’t do anything. She was afraid, but that didn’t stop her from protecting me and standing up for what’s right. I stood back and didn’t do a thing. She stood up to him, and he ran her through like she was a piece of meat. I was terrified. I knelt in front of him! I knelt to him! And he smiled. He is heartless and there is no man like him.  
After laying on my bed for about an hour and a half (I fell asleep for a short while), my stomach growls, alerting me that it must be around lunch time. I hop off the bed and smooth the wrinkles out of my sparring outfit. I change into a t-shirt and tights in about twenty seconds. It’s a new record.  
“JARVIS, how do I get to the kitchen or whatever? I still don’t know how to make it around this place.” There’s a beep and JARVIS’ response comes after. “I will show you the way, my beautiful queen.” I smile to myself and bound my way there. It’s hilarious that I made JARVIS call me that.  
When I get my lunch, Steve joins me at the counter. “What are you so happy about of the sudden?” he asks me. A smile spreads across my face and I try not to laugh.  
“Well, when Stark finally fell asleep last night I got to work and…” I lean over so that I can whisper in his ear. “I hacked JARVIS so that he would either call me ‘My Beautiful Queen,’ ‘Amber the Majestic,’ or ‘Supreme Ruler.’ He still hasn’t figured out that I hacked into his machinery. And best of all, I put my own lock code on it, so he won’t be able to change it! Let me just say, I am a genius!” I bite my lip to keep myself from cracking up but that doesn’t stop Steve from laughing.  
“How did you manage that? He usually watches all of that 24/7,” he says, and I shrug.  
“I honestly have no idea. I set up a plan, but I forget it.” After that we sit in silence for a minute, I am once again shocked to see Loki arrive. My heart beats faster and my head spins. I don’t want to be afraid of him, but I am more than terrified.  
“Are you okay?” Steve asks in a slight whisper. I don’t know why seeing Loki this morning didn’t trigger this reaction. I don’t like the feeling. I’m hyperventilating and can’t stop. I’m seeing dots until suddenly, everything disappears, and I am no longer with Steve at the counter in Avengers’ Tower. I’m with my sister, Sapphire along with a lot of other people. We’re at the front of the crowd, and Loki is in front of us.  
“You can’t make me kneel,” Sapphire says strongly. I shake my head at her, fear already suffocating me.  
“Sapphire, just do what he says,” I whisper. Slowly, my shaking body lowers to the ground and I am kneeling before him. Sapphire spins around and looks at me, a fire burning brightly in her eyes. She is determined to stand up to this evil man, and nothing I say will pull her away. So, I say nothing, only look ahead at Loki from my kneeling position.  
“I won’t be brought down by one man, thinking that he can rule me with an iron fist. You threaten these people, and among these people are my family! I won’t have any of them killed because of your stupid hunger for power. I will stand for these people,” she says. Loki looks angrily at her.  
“Then you will pay.” My eyes shoot over to my sister who stands before Loki and I gasp in shock as the sharp end of his staff goes right through her. Blood runs down her back and I scream. She is too shocked to let out a cry. She crumples to the ground in pain and Loki…He smiles. I feel tears sting my eyes and a horribly sick feeling grows inside the pit of my stomach. The hot tears fall down my cheeks as the god of mischief laughs and pulls out his staff.  
“Now you kneel,” he says. My sister is still breathing, but she is now kneeling on the ground, not out of fear, but out of weakness and pain. Her skin is as pale as snow. Without thinking, I move to her side and wrap an arm around her, not caring that blood is soaking through my clothes.  
“Get away!” Loki yells. I jump back, startled. The tears won’t stop flowing as I see my sister completely collapse, her body completely still and lifeless. I look down at the ground, and once again I am back in a kneeling position.  
“No, no, no, no, no, no…” I keep saying the same word repeatedly as I watch the tears fall to the earth.  
Suddenly I hear my name being called. But I can’t answer. “Amber! Please listen! Amber! Amber! Stop! It’s alright!”  
“AMBER!” I gasp and nearly fall backwards. I’m shaking terribly, and my eyes are blinded by tears. I’m hyperventilating, and I fill sick and dizzy. Thor, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and Steve are all around me. I don’t see Loki anywhere, but somehow, I have a feeling that he’s nearby.  
“W-where a-am I?” I shakily ask. I feel like I should be somewhere else, not with the Avengers.  
“You were having a flashback,” Natasha says. “Steve said that when you saw Loki, it triggered something.”  
“It seems like you have PTSD,” Bruce explains. My eyes widen. “I’m not a therapist or a doctor, but the flashback you had makes it more than obvious.” My heart begins to beat faster, and I feel shaky and dizzy. Post-traumatic stress disorder!? I’m doing to get flashbacks every time I see Loki?  
“Luckily, you won’t get a flashback every time you see Loki.” I sigh with relief. “When you saw Loki the first time, it shocked you and upset you, but when you saw him the second time, it caused that to trigger a flashback. Sometimes you won’t even need to see him to have a flashback.” I furrow my eyebrows and frown.  
“And you say that you aren’t a medical therapist or whatever they’re called,” I mumble sullenly. I purse my lips and look up. “Where is Loki now?” Clint points to the other end of the room.  
“Over there,” he answers. I squint slightly and see Loki leaning against the wall at the very end of the room. The area is shadowy, making him mostly hidden.  
“Oh.” I can’t stop glancing back at him. It’s like every second I expect him to attack me, to kill somebody. But when I look closely, that’s not the look I see in his eyes. To look at him, I think I’m delirious, and maybe it’s just shadows, because the look I see in his eyes isn’t hate, insanity, or the look of want for revenge. The look in his eyes is…regret. And now I feel like a monster, because as he turns his head, and looks straight into my eyes I know what he sees; murderous hatred.


End file.
